Jestersix

Tell me this is not ich!

I learned the hard way about ich and had to tear my reef apart to get a royal gramma out of the rock work early on. It's a PITA, but it's not impossible, especially with smaller tanks. Once you do it once, you'll learn that it's just easier to quarantine everything the right way so that you never have to tear your reef apart to get a fish out.

Most new fish (especially fish for your 40 gallon tank) can be quarantined in a 5 gallon tank that gets set up only when you need it. You can get a fluval spec for $35 and it has practically everything you need except for the heater and medication. A 5 gallon bucket, a rio pump and a heater would also work.

Also, RSCSP can be mixed ahead of time if its just going in a fish only tank. The fish doesn't care if the calcium precipitates out.
 
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calcium carbonate precipitation is what I remember hearing. it happens when i mix up my IO RC for several days and i get this white residue on my buckets
 
calcium carbonate precipitation is what I remember hearing. it happens when i mix up my IO RC for several days and i get this white residue on my buckets
That probably makes more sense. Assuming it doesn't result in a huge alkalinity drop, the fish probably still won't care.

Nav: Any update? How are the fish doing?
 
calcium carbonate precipitation is what I remember hearing. it happens when i mix up my IO RC for several days and i get this white residue on my buckets
I understand the thought that it might be precipitation, but my question still is valid, what is different from mixing in a bucket and mixing in an aquarium(i.e. it's in the tank and being used)? Are they over saturating the salt mix and expecting you to do water changes on a much lower concentration such that the levels even out? It's not like the stuff in the aquarium will use the calcium and alkalinity that quickly (within 4 hours) to suck the water down to a reasonable level.
 
i believe it is because its at a higher level and when it aerates, then the PH goes up, and causes it to precipitate... or something like that... as Philip mentioned earlier though, the fish won't care so it should be okay.
 
That precip is one of the reasons I switched from RSCP to ESV. I don't use a batch up for a couple of weeks. If you use it right away what happens to the precip? In the DT or magically no precip?

It's all VOODOO!
 
This is why I just stick to good old Reef Crystals. Cheap and it mixes well and I can keep it for a week or more with no major precipitation issues.
 
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Update: Mid-last week the white spots were sort of smudged & all over the clown. This week 90% of the white spots are gone...

The clown never showed any signs of stress, since this started it has been very active, dominating other fish and eating well.

Just hoping it fights the disease (fingers crossed).

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Reef-safe ich medications do not exist. Read the reviews for most of the reef-safe ich cures and you'll see lots of bad reviews saying they simply don't work.

Reefcentral's fish disease forum has a good thread on what ich is and what treatments work against ich.
 
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Reef-safe ich medications do not exist. Read the reviews for most of the reef-safe ich cures and you'll see lots of bad reviews saying they simply don't work.

Reefcentral's fish disease forum has a good thread on what ich is and what treatments work against ich.

Chloroquine phosphate has proven to be a very effective treatment for ich. I've been using Dr. G's with good results so far in my 450 gallon reef.
 
This seems like a bad idea in a reef tank. I'd be really worried about harming the corals or other invertebrates.
  • Do not broadcast feed in pellets in an aquarium containing corals or anemones
  • Do not feed to anemones or corals, for use with aquarium ornamental pet fish only
  • The use of activated carbon is recommended to absorb residual medication and avoid harming corals and anemones
 
This seems like a bad idea in a reef tank...

I agree. To be clear, I was just pointing Nav in the direction of the medication that was being suggested by the other member, not recommending its use. I still think that a separate treatment tank is the best approach.

Chloroquine phosphate has proven to be a very effective treatment for ich. I've been using Dr. G's with good results so far in my 450 gallon reef.

I'm a little curious on how long you plan to feed the fish the medicated food. The food only kills the ich during the encystment stage and not during the other lifecycle stages, which means you really need to feed the medicated food to cover the entire lifecycle of ich, which is up to 72 days.
 
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I'm a little curious on how long you plan to feed the fish the medicated food. The food only kills the ich during the encystment stage and not during the other lifecycle stages, which means you really need to feed the medicated food to cover the entire lifecycle of ich, which is up to 72 days.

The directions recommend treating for 3 weeks. I plan on doing that and treating accordingly there after. Feel free to checkout my build thread for updates.
 
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This seems like a bad idea in a reef tank. I'd be really worried about harming the corals or other invertebrates.
  • Do not broadcast feed in pellets in an aquarium containing corals or anemones
  • Do not feed to anemones or corals, for use with aquarium ornamental pet fish only
  • The use of activated carbon is recommended to absorb residual medication and avoid harming corals and anemones

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2014...ts-for-treating-ich-and-intestinal-parasites/

Good read.
 
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